Advanced Concepts in Particle and Field Theory
Cambridge University Press, 6/11/2015
EAN 9781107097483, ISBN10: 1107097487
Hardcover, 575 pages, 25.3 x 19.5 x 3 cm
Language: English
Uniting the usually distinct areas of particle physics and quantum field theory, gravity and general relativity, this expansive and comprehensive textbook of fundamental and theoretical physics describes the quest to consolidate the basic building blocks of nature, by journeying through contemporary discoveries in the field, and analysing elementary particles and their interactions. Designed for advanced undergraduates and graduate students and abounding in worked examples and detailed derivations, as well as including historical anecdotes and philosophical and methodological perspectives, this textbook provides students with a unified understanding of all matter at the fundamental level. Topics range from gauge principles, particle decay and scattering cross-sections, the Higgs mechanism and mass generation, to spacetime geometries and supersymmetry. By combining historically separate areas of study and presenting them in a logically consistent manner, students will appreciate the underlying similarities and conceptual connections to be made in these fields.
Part I. Preliminaries
1. The nature of observing nature
2. Fundamental physics
elementary particles and processes
Part II. The Standard Model
3. Physics in spacetime
4. The quark model
combinatorics and groups
5. Gauge symmetries and interactions
6. Non-abelian gauge symmetries and interactions
7. The standard model
Part III. Beyond the Standard Model
8. Unification
the fabric of understanding nature
9. Gravity and the geometrization of physics
10. Supersymmetry
boson-fermion unification
11. Strings
unification of all foundations of reality
Part IV. Appendices
A. Groups
structure and notation
B. A lexicon
C. A few more details
References
Index.